All Lands Summoned to Praise God
Psalms 100 (NRSVUE)
A Psalm of thanksgiving.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
come into his presence with singing.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever
and his faithfulness to all generations.
(before service everyone was given a shaker egg and told to shake it when they heard the words – “Make a Joyful Noise”)
Last week, my granddaughter Eliza was at Coffee Connection, and she kept practicing her alphabet. I wonder do you think that we as a congregation could recite the alphabet together? Does anyone want to get us started? (congregation sings the alphabet) Excellent job! However, I think it’s kind of interesting because I didn’t ask us to sing the alphabet song; I simply asked us to recite the alphabet. But from childhood, that is how most of us were taught to say the alphabet, isn’t it?
The truth is that songs help us to remember things–things like ideas or themes, words or numbers, feelings or beliefs, or even scripture. Songs open up different windows and doors in our brains, reminding us of things that we may not even remember that we knew. Have you ever heard a song come on the radio that you haven’t heard for a long time and you know every single word, even though sometimes you can’t remember what day of the week it is? That’s what I call the mystery of music.
Okay now for the past few Sundays, as we have been wondering about why we do what we do here in worship, I have shared several of “Pastor Kelly’s Personal Worship Secrets.” So are you ready for this week’s? Okay now just to be clear, I have attended and graduated from seminary. I have a Master of Divinity degree. I’m an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. and I’ve taken and led all kinds of Bible classes over the years. But when I pick up the Bible, and I want to look up, let’s say, the book of Ezra, I know that the book of Ezra is in the Old Testament. I know just from experience that the book of Ezra is relatively close to the beginning of the Bible. I know it’s before the book of Psalms, but I’ll be honest, I don’t immediately know the order of every book in the bible. So when I pick up the Bible, I don’t open up to the table of contents–which you could easily do. I don’t think back to seminary and all the things I learned. Actually, I think back to Sunday School, and in the back of my head I sing to myself (Sing… Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st Kings, 2nd Kings, 1st & 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah.) And then I can find the book of Ezra, right after the book of 2nd Chronicles. Or if I’m looking for the book of Timothy in the New Testament, I do the same thing. (Sing… Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Acts, and the letter to the Romans. 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians and Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 1st and 2nd Timothy.) There it is, right after 2nd Thessalonians!
Well, just in case you haven’t figured it out yet, our theme for today when it comes to wondering about why we do what we do here in worship is music! Now I know some of you are thinking, “Oh awesome, music, one of my favorite parts of worship!” And others of you are thinking, “Oh no, this sounds terrible!”
For me, having grown up in a family where music was very important, music and worship go hand in hand. As a young child, I always knew it was Sunday from the moment I woke up, because on Sunday mornings, my mom always played her church albums. Yes, “albums,” as in “records” on a “record player!” There were the Statler Brothers, the Oak Ridge Boys, Elvis Presley’s gospel, Johnny Cash, the Gaithers, and many, many others. I believe that it’s because of that experience as a child that Christian music has always brought me a sense of comfort. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s some church music that isn’t quite my style. And the older I get there is some Christian music whose theology turns my stomach. But usually, it’s something that makes me instantly feel at home.
Now though church music or Christian music comforts me, I know that, to others, church music is boring, and the music during church is just something you have to get you have to get through to get to the “important” parts of worship. And that’s okay because every one of us was created to be our unique selves with different personalities and opinions. And that’s why here in Oldtown, we try to share a little bit of a lot of different kinds of music.
Well, in today’s scripture reading, we heard the phrase “MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE to the Lord,” and those words may hit home for some of you more than others. To me, an old church hymn sounds like home, But to others, it may just sound like an old dirge. To some, bluegrass music sounds like a bunch of twanging banjos, while to others it lifts their spirits and deepens their connection to God. With music, like with worship, there’s not one right or wrong way, no one right or wrong answer, no one right or wrong style or rhythm or cadence. Honestly, I like to think of music as a “Peaceable Kingdom” because there are so many different kinds of music and yet they can all come together and help us experience the presence of God in new and different ways.
There’s something about music that touches us on a deeper level than anything else. Have you ever heard a song that brings you back to a different time and space? Maybe a high school dance or your wedding day, a fun time you had with friends, or a song that makes you feel patriotic and reminds you how proud you are to be an American? Music has a way of touching the deepest parts of our hearts and souls, and it can fill us with all kinds of emotions.
Many times music sets the scene. It gets us in the mood. It opens our hearts and minds to either experience something that’s right in front of us, something that is in our imagination, or something that is deep within our hearts. Here in worship, depending on the season or the occasion, we sing and listen to different kinds of music. During evening services like Christmas Eve, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, or Good Friday, we tend to sing quieter more reflective songs like “Silent Night,” “Just as I Am,” “Were You There,” or “Jesus Remember Me.” While on Easter, we pull out all the stops singing songs of “Alleluias” and “He is Risen!”
Speaking of Alleluias, today’s scripture reading did not only talk about singing and playing instruments, it said MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE! Now, sometimes when we make a joyful noise, we yell “Hosanna!” or “Alleluia!” or “Praise the Lord!” So let’s try it. “Hosanna!” “Alleluia!” “Praise the Lord!” Great! Let’s try it again, but this time, let’s have this side yell, “Hosanna,” the middle will yell “Alleluia,” and this side “Praise the Lord!” All at the same time. Are you ready? On the count of three: one, two, three! (Everyone shouts) Let’s try it again! One more time! Sometimes, the things we say and sing can sound beautiful, and sometimes they can sound overwhelming and confusing.
I have to tell you, I thought I had a great idea for today. I was going to give out kazoos this morning in addition to our shakers, so we could really make a joyful noise! But then I thought about the fact that we have several people in our congregation who are sensitive to noise. So even though making a joyful noise with our voices and shakers and kazoos sounded fun, it was important to also think of our friends and neighbors.
I wonder, how many of you love the sound of bagpipes? To many, the sound of bagpipes is a joyful noise! But bagpipes drive my husband crazy. He can’t stand them. As soon as he hears them, he wants to leave wherever he is. He says that when he hears them, it sounds like someone is stepping on a cat. Friends, that’s just one more example of how, when making a joyful noise, we need to think about the people around us because life is not all about us, right?
Sure, we have our likes and our preferences. Some like old hymns, while others like folk, bluegrass, or contemporary music. Some like electric guitars and drum solos, while others like string orchestras and classic piano. We all appreciate different things, and we have our own opinions and choices. Just like when some of us come to church, we like to sit up front, or near the back, on the left or the right side. And though we have preferences and things we like, sometimes, because we also love our neighbor, we might need to listen to music that is not our favorite even if to us, it just sounds like noise. Or sometimes, we may need to sit in a different pew, even though we don’t like to sit in a different pew, but because there just happens to be a visitor in our pew. It’s in situations like that that we have to remember that it is not all about us. Did you hear that? It’s not all about us! Because sometimes our call to hospitality and love of our neighbor outweighs our preferences.
Friends, earlier we talked about how we teach our children lots of things via song. Well, we also teach our children through our words and actions. And sometimes, if we didn’t have the ability to read scripture, and all I could do was listen to and watch people around me, I might think Psalm 100 starts with the words “Make a loud noise to the Lord, all the earth. Enter his gates with self-centeredness and complaining.” Folks, if we’re going to be honest, living a life of faith is all about balance. Sometimes we get to enjoy what we like, and sometimes we let our neighbors enjoy what they like. It’s kind of like dancing: we each dance in our own way, but when we dance together, sometimes we lead, and sometimes we let someone else lead.
So, brothers and sisters in Christ, as you go out into your busy week ahead, I hope you’ll MAKE LOTS OF JOYFUL NOISES! I hope you’ll sing and dance and praise God. But I also hope you’ll watch out for your neighbor, remembering that their likes, their dislikes, and their needs might be different than yours. Because if we are going to truly work towards making a peaceable kingdom here on earth, we need to remember that it’s not all about us. It’s about all of us!
My friends, may it be so. Thanks be to God, Amen!
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